


Tricks, No Treats

by MusicalLuna



Category: Psych
Genre: Clowns, Gen, Halloween, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-10-05
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 06:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13564773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Sometimes one trick is one too many.





	1. Superstition

**Author's Note:**

> This is such a bad idea. Posting before completion = no-no.
> 
> *DOESN'T CARE*
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** No ownie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reeeeeeeeeally shouldn't do this. But I bloody want to write a Halloween fic and I'm going to try.
> 
> Kthxenjoy.

Shawn glanced away from the television screen on the wall of the Psych office at the sound of the door handle rattling, a handful of candy corn hovering near his mouth. For a moment he sat poised in waiting, the slow creak of the door audible in the momentary silence of the movie.

Someone screamed. He jumped, several pieces of candy corn dropping from his palm and he muttered an exasperated curse, shooting a dirty look at the TV screen where a teenaged boy was going down in an arc of blood. Sitting forward, his feet came down from their perch on Gus' chair. “Gus?” he called, fingers searching out the lost pieces as he listened for a response. A second later a blonde head peeped around the corner and he straightened. “Jules?”

“Oh, good,” she breathed, shoulders relaxing. “You're here.”

His eyebrows rose in response and he set the bowl of candy on his desk, ignoring the chorus of screaming now coming from the television. “I am. So are you. Is everything okay, Jules?” Her face was pale, eyes a little wider than normal, her purse clutched tightly to her front.

She took a deep breath, eyes darting around the room once more before coming to meet his. “I need to ask a favor of you, Shawn.”

He moved forward to put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her further into the room. “Sure, Jules, of course. What can I do for you?”

She stopped meeting his gaze as she sat down on the edge of one of the chairs, her fingers brushing at the strands of hair around her face. “Okay, look, Shawn. I'm not normally this kind of girl.”

She fixed him with a Look and he nodded dutifully. “No, of course you're not,” he agreed.

Leaning forward a little further on the chair, she lowered her voice and fixed him with a hard stare. “If you laugh at what I'm about to tell you, I will turn around and leave and you'll be lucky if you get a case for the next six months, do you understand?”

“Got it. No laughing.” He pinched the corners of his mouth, forcing them down into a clown-like frown.

Juliet edged the chair a little closer, so that their knees were almost touching as she shot another look around the office. Shawn put a hand on her knee. “Jules, will you relax? You're acting like an axe-murderer is going to jump out from behind the bookcase or something.”

She leveled a grave look at him and said, “I wouldn't be surprised.”

Shawn bit down hard on his cheek to smother the smile fighting for control of his face. “Oh?” he said innocently. His cheek twitched.

“I'm afraid something is going to try and kill me tonight,” she told him. She began stroking the ponytail hanging over her shoulder.

Shawn couldn't help it. He scoffed. “Jules, really? You never struck me as someone who'd be freaked out by a few Jack-O-Lanterns and some hooky spooky.”

“I'm _not!_ ” she exclaimed. “But something weird has been happening to me all day and I really just think—” She looked at him and he forced his expression flat. “A black cat ran across the steps of the station when I got there this morning. Then the bathroom mirror broke when I was in there this afternoon, Carlton and I found a dead sparrow at one of the crime scenes, I accidentally walked under this ladder that was spread out over the _sidewalk_ of all places, I kept hearing the number thirteen _everywhere—“_

“It's Halloween, Jules,” Shawn said. “Of course you keep hearing the number thirteen everywhere.”

Juliet stood abruptly, marching over to the window and yanking the blinds up to reveal a fat, blood red full moon hanging low over the ocean outside. “The moon is red, Shawn,” she said pointedly.

His head wavered; he couldn't really refute that. “It's still Halloween though, Jules.”

“What are you telling me someone was following me around, doing this on purpose?” she demanded, sliding the blinds back down into place.

Shawn pasted on his most innocuous expression. “Isn't it possible?”

She sighed and moved back over, sitting back down in the chair with her arms around her torso, one hand rubbing at her forehead. “Please, Shawn. I know this sounds absolutely insane. I just—need you to stay with me, and make sure nothing happens. Can you do that for me?”

He took her hand, giving it a warm squeeze. “Of course I can, Jules.”

She smiled wanly at him. “Thank you.”

“So,” he said, clapping his hands to his thighs. “Where did you want to have this little sleep over? Gus was going to meet me here for a couple of scary movies later, but I can call him and tell him something came up. Your place or mine?” He began gathering up the food stuffs that had accumulated around the arm chairs he'd dragged in front of the television.

Juliet rolled her eyes. “Don't start getting ideas, Shawn. This is strictly for survival purposes.”

He held up his hands. “I wouldn't even conceive of attempting to make it something else. That was a purely platonic 'yours or mine'.”

A poor victim in the movie let out a shrill scream that cut off into wet sounding gurgles as the killer plunged a knife into her chest over and over and Juliet grimaced. “Do you seriously enjoy watching this stuff?”

Shawn grinned. “It's great for a quick thrill. And a good laugh. Some of the effects are terrible.” He pointed the remote at the set and the screaming woman disappeared, leaving the office quiet, but for the sound of the wind moaning softly outside. “Seriously though,” he said. “Where are we going to stay? I need to know if we need to stop by my apartment for some things.” He glanced over at her and a small frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Jules?”

She sat stiffly in the chair, her hands clenched white knuckled around the arms, head turned toward the window.

Shawn flashed a quick uncertain smile, edging toward her. “Jules? Not funny. What's—”

Her head turned slowly toward him, eyes wide. “There's something outside, Shawn,” she whispered.

The handle on the front door rattled softly.


	2. Deception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee new chapter. ENJOY MONKIES.

The door scraped quietly against the frame as the intruder carefully eased it open and Shawn's eyes widened. “Jules!” he hissed through his teeth, gesturing her over with a sharp jerk of his hand. “Get over here!”

She hesitated, frozen for a split second and Shawn hissed her name again. She got to her feet, scrambling to his side and the pair of them ducked down behind his desk just as the office went black. “I told you!” she whispered furiously.

He wrapped his hand around hers, back pressed against the side of the desk. “Shhh.”

They listened, hardly daring to breathe as footsteps clomped slowly into the main office. Shawn edged to the left as they moved into the center of the office and peeked around the corner of the desk.

There, eerily lit by the green glow stick clutched in it's fist, stood a tall, grinning clown.

A smile flashed across Shawn's face and he quickly pulled back around the desk, turning to Juliet with wide eyes.

“What?” she mouthed, her own eyes rapidly scanning over his face.

“It's a _clown_ ,” he mouthed back.

Juliet stared at him for a long moment and then pushed up onto her knees to peer over the desk. She made a strangled sort of noise in the back of her throat and a second later she slid back down, shaking her head. She froze when Shawn grabbed her arm, pointing fiercely towards the back of the desk. The clown's footsteps were clumping slowly toward them again.

Juliet scrambled around the back of the desk, Shawn following and sliding behind it just as the faint green glow of the clown's light slipped around the corner of the desk. He watched, holding his breath as the clown's huge glossy red shoes continued on past, moving back towards the office's rear door. His head snapped back around at the quiet buzzing of a phone at his hip. Juliet's own eyes widened and her hands immediately lunged for her purse, quickly yanking out her cell phone.

“Jules!” he hissed, shooting an anxious glance back to where the clown had disappeared.

“It's Carlton,” she whispered back, flipping open the phone. “He can—”

“Lassie calls you at _home?_ ”

Juliet shot him an exasperated look, eyes flicking briefly back toward the rear door where something could be heard scraping loudly across the floor. She peered down at the screen a second later and Shawn was surprised to see her entire posture change, her spine going rigid and the lines of her face sharpening fiercely.

“Shawn, we have to get out of here now.”

He tilted his head, bewildered by the sudden change in her demeanor. “What? Jules—”

She grabbed his arm, tugging him toward the front door. “We have to get out of here, _now_. Back up is on the way, but—”

“Whoa, wait, _back up?_ ” Shawn whispered, dragging her to a stop between the arm chairs.

“Shawn, this isn't pretend anymore, now _move!_ ” she said, pulling on his shirt.

Shawn frowned, resisting the pull. “Any _more?_ ”

Juliet began tugging his arm again, gritting, “Now really isn't the time, Shawn.”

“No, no, no. I think this is a great time,” he whispered back.

Juliet sighed heavily, shooting another anxious glance toward the darkened rear of the office. “It was supposed to be Gus and Carlton, but they're still on their way. I was trying to get you back for the ridiculous superstition tricks.”

Shawn gawked at her. “You knew about that?”

Juliet rolled her eyes. “I called Gus at lunch to confirm our lunchdate tomorrow. He told me.”

Shawn's mouth pinched. “He and I are going to have to have a serious talk about confidentiality.”

“Can we go now?” Juliet whispered, gesturing sharply at the door.

Shawn sighed, sulking. “Well, since you already know... I guess I should mention that I...hired the clown.”

Juliet's gaze could have cut through an ice block. “You what?”

He shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was a safe-guard. You know, if the superstition stuff didn't work.”

Juliet glowered at him. “You are absolutely ridiculous, Shawn. I can't believe—”

Shawn jumped as his cell phone suddenly vibrated and he tugged it out, flipping it open to view the text he'd just received. His annoyed expression fell as he read. “Oh no.”

“What?” Juliet asked, tone still peeved.

He turned the phone, displaying the message for her. It read:

SORRY I COULDN'T COME. HOPE THINGS WORKED OUT.

Juliet's eyes were wide as she met Shawn's. “We have to get out.”

Shawn nodded vigorously, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “Agreed.”

They made for the door, keeping low and close to the floor, Shawn leading the way in the darkened office. He bit back a curse when he stepped on something pointy and obviously not where it was supposed to be on the floor. Juliet urged him on with an impatient and anxious, “ _Shawn!_ ”

When they reached the door, Shawn straightened up, wrapping his hand around the handle and then paused, turning back toward her. “Can I just say for the record that this was supposed to be the fun kind of freaked out and not the oh-god-I-really-think-we're -going-to-die kind of freaked out?”

Juliet glared and he shrugged weakly at her hands-on-hips P.O.ed posture. “I take that to mean it doesn't really matter.”

“Open the door, Shawn,” she grit.

He sighed and, reluctantly, pushed the door open. It clanged loudly on something after clearing just two inches.

“ _Spencer_ ,” a voice growled from the back of the office.

Shawn's eyes widened. “Oh crap.”


End file.
